12 January 2023
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel, disobedience seems to be the name of the game. Any onlooker during the time of Jesus would know the laws that exist against the touching of a leper, and yet Jesus does just that. The healed man then continues the trend by telling everyone about what happened, even though Jesus had asked him not to. And it’s hard not to have sympathy for the man’s actions. After spending time looked down upon, isolated from human interactions and human touch, how could he keep from singing God’s praises?
The result is a bit of a role reversal between the man and Jesus. It is the healed man who becomes the herald of the Good News, and it is Jesus who is forced to remain outside of town, in deserted places. But there is one key difference. His isolation is not due to people shunning him. Quite the contrary. People, many, many people want to come to him. The healed man’s testimony turned people on to this cure that was spreading throughout the land. They wanted to see its source.
In our world today, people are still hungry, often seeking a cure for their many ailments, physical, mental, spiritual. But the source is increasingly shunned and overlooked. Like the healed man, can we be bearers of the Good News and outspoken witnesses to its source, Christ Jesus?